(Subscription required) The Judicial Council’s legislative priorities for 2019 look a lot like its goals in other recent years: more judges and more court funding. The big difference next year is a new governor and an unprecedented Democratic majority.

(Subscription required) In his nearly four years on the court, Cuéllar has indeed bolstered a new generation of Gov. Jerry Brown-appointed jurists — young, progressive, and joining the court without ever having sat on the bench before. An experienced scholar and policymaker and the court’s sole Latino, Cuéllar replaced retiring Justice Marvin Baxter, a conservative stalwart.

(Subscription required) In law, as in most things, California tends to run ahead of national trends. But there's one place we lag behind: the development of a specialized high court bar. Is this one area where Washington, D.C. is actually worthy of emulation?

In unveiling an updated technology plan for the courts, the California Judicial Council said Friday it has learned from the tech debacles of the past.

Sandhu was one of 33 new judges throughout California appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Oct. 11. The newly appointed judge has told The Modesto Bee he is the first Asian-American serving on the Stanislaus Superior Court bench, perhaps the first person of the Sikh faith.

Laura J. Davis, 44, Chico, was appointed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown, effective Dec. 31. She has served as a research attorney at the Sutter County Superior Court since 2005.

(Subscription required) Gov. Jerry Brown named 12 new superior court judges, including the fourth administration adviser tapped for the bench in recent weeks.

(Subscription required) An incendiary device or firework was set off at the San Francisco Hall of Justice, causing an evacuation of the building and court to be canceled Thursday afternoon, according to sheriff’s department spokesperson Nancy Crowley.

The court finds the superior court violated the defendant’s due process rights in instructing the jury that it could consider his brief refusal to appear in court during the trial as consciousness of his guilt. The Supreme Court concludes, however, that the error “did not affect the jury’s verdicts in this case.”

A sole practitioner since 1989, Foley served as a deputy county counsel at the Office of the Kern County Counsel in 2010, and as a law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa A. Goldner at the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California from 2008 to 2009.

Langhorne, a Vallejo resident, has served as a commissioner in the Napa County court system since 2006, according to a press release from Gov. Jerry Brown's office.

If the plaintiffs don’t ask the high court to take up the case, then the justices should review it on their own motion. They have the right to do so and, we think, the obligation as well.

(Subscription required) “His intellect and insight will be immensely valuable as we address important issues facing our court, the legal profession, and the entire judicial branch,” Cantil-Sakauye said in a press release.

(Subscription required) Oral arguments concerning alleged misconduct by retired Judge Steven Bailey of the El Dorado County Superior Court will be heard Jan. 30, the Commission on Judicial Performance announced Wednesday.

(Subscription required) Justices of the 4th District Court of Appeal said Tuesday the five physicians who sought to block the End of Life Option Act — which allows terminally ill patients to get lethal drugs from their physicians if certain conditions are met — did not adequately allege standing in their initial complaint.

(Subscription required) Baltodano said because of his humble beginnings, he tries to address most defendants with empathy and makes an effort to thoroughly explain all of his rulings. He said he’ll remind them to head to the clerk’s office to get a case summary printout, so they can have a list of their expectations in writing.

Gupta said in a statement, “I look forward to making this shift to the policy side and serving the Chief Justice and the judicial branch on a wide variety of important issues.”

California voters this month approved Proposition 11, an initiative that, as to ambulance workers, overturns the Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc. Augustus interpreted a statute and a regulation as requiring uninterrupted rest breaks for employees.

Teofilo was convicted in August 2016 of first-degree murder, but a state appellate court panel subsequently reduced his conviction to second-degree murder and lowered his 25-year-to-life sentence to 15 years to life.

A new federal complaint with a unique argument accuses the state of Rhode Island of failing to provide students with the skills they need to participate effectively in a democracy.

Created by a 1955 California Supreme Court decision, the so-called California Rule states that pension plan benefits existing at the time an employee is hired can never be reduced unless offset by a comparable new benefit, thereby erasing the savings. The court relied upon the Constitution’s contract clause, which bars government from impairing contracts.

The benefit at issue in this case is only one of many reforms signed by Gov. Jerry Brown that, according to CalPERS, will reduce pension costs by over $80 billion. New employees had benefits reduced and pension abuses were curtailed.

“While I’ve enjoyed focusing on Supreme Court case issues over the past seven years, I look forward to making this shift to the policy side and serving the Chief Justice and the judicial branch on a wide variety of important issues,” Gupta said.

(Subscription required) With three appointments Tuesday, along with a jurist promoted to presiding justice, outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown has now fully stocked the state appeals courts.

(Subscription required) The ABA’s new experiential learning requirement went into effect for the Class of 2019, mandating six credit hours of experiential courses, which could be a simulation course, a law clinic or a field placement. Prior to that, the ABA only required one professional skills course.

(Subscription required) Judge John Molloy is all business but is understanding of issues attorneys in his court face.

The court denied Foster’s request for a review of an appeals court decision earlier this year. That decision reinstated a verdict and judgment for Knutson in her 2016 case against Foster, a longtime power broker in U.S. and international aquatic sports.

A state appeals court rejected a challenge Tuesday to California’s right-to-die law for terminally ill patients, overturning a judge’s ruling in May that had briefly blocked enforcement of the law.

San Diego Gas & Electric is taking its fight to have ratepayers shoulder $379 million in costs related to 2007’s deadly wildfires to the California Supreme Court, and the utility says a local appeals court judge who recently ruled against the utility should have recused herself from the case.

On December 5th, all eyes will be on the California Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in a case that could allow the state to cut down this tremendous debt.